We’ll be profiling some of our Vision Zero Conference presenters in the weeks leading up to the conference. This week we have Polly Trottenberg, Commissioner at the New York City Department of Transportation.
Polly Trottenberg was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in January 2014 to lead the nation’s largest municipal transportation agency. In this role she oversees a department with over 5,800 employees and a $18.1 billion 10-year capital plan. She directs the agency’s mission: focusing on mobility, safety, equity, sustainability and economic growth in NYCDOT’s oversight of roads, bridges, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and the Staten Island Ferry.
Under her leadership, NYCDOT has expanded street resurfacing and reconstruction, increased bridge rehabilitation and construction, improved bus performance, and expanded the bike network to over 1,240 miles.
She has led Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative to eliminate roadway fatalities. New York City has redesigned hundreds of city streets and achieved legislative victories in lowering the City’s speed limit to 25 MPH. Under Vision Zero, the City has seen its fewest ever traffic fatalities. Commissioner Trottenberg also serves on the Board of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC).
With more than 25 years of career public service, Commissioner Trottenberg most recently served as USDOT’s Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy during the Obama Administration. She also worked under U.S. Senators Charles Schumer, Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Barbara Boxer. Trottenberg graduated from Barnard College and received her Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
Commissioner Trottenberg’s remarks at our 2020 Vision Zero Conference will touch upon the results New York City has experienced through its Vision Zero program, the most effective interventions that New York City has implemented, what lessons Philadelphia can take from New York City’s experiences, and to what degree her department has been able to make internal and external culture changes around road safety.